Being DIPLOMATic

Life as a diplomat had made quite a difference in our stay in Moscow. Here's why....

Even though working life had been as busy for Adrian,

he is supported by capable and supportive local staff. They are....Elena, his marketing officer and Sasha, his driver (cum bodyguard :)).

Besides assisting Adrian, both Elena and Sasha had been a great help to me too. You may not be able to see the car clearly but it is a Volvo S60. The great thing about this car was not its model but the fact that it had a red car plate. In Singapore, red car plate means weekend car but in Moscow, red car plate means diplomatic car, = police would think twice about stopping you, some hotel would offer free parking, cars on the road would try to avoid you (they have this thinking that diplomatic drivers are reckless drivers) etc.

For those who had visited Moscow before, you might had bad experience at the airport customs. Many had been "detained" for quite a while before the stamp finally got "chopped" on your passport. However, if you have the above, all else do not matter. If they make trouble, just point to the word "diplomatic". You will be surprise how many of them are "blind". It is also very effective if they decide to check your luggage. Just give them the passport and they will signal you to pass. With this, you can also use the diplomatic lane for faster clearance at immigration.

Next is this diplomatic card. In Moscow, you always have to bring your passport wherever you go. But if you have this baby, you will not need to bring your passport and will never get "extorted" by policemen. Sigh! I will sure miss these conveniences.....:(

Get Together...

One of the things that always draw me back to Singapore is the pals I have here.

These are just 2 of them.....

She is one of our 2 new additions. Line said she caught me drooling over her many times during dinner. How not to right? :PUs and the next generation. (Missing : Rachel & Fu, Fang & Chloe, Darren)

10th Month...

It's the 10th month today. Saw the "Caesar" advertisement yesterday. The westie in there reminded me of Pebble when she was young. So cute..

First Home Restaurant in Moscow

Tonight, I decided to bring some of my closer friends to the first home restaurant in Moscow. I don't really know the real name of the restaurant as we conveniently called it "Emily's" (named after the owner). Emily had stayed in Singapore before and maybe that's why we felt totally at ease in her "home". Menu at Emily's is quite standard but definitely not unimpressive. The chef, who is her mum makes fabulous Russian home cooked cuisine. My favorites are her piroshki, stewed pork, plov and cheese cake. Yummy! If you are wondering why there is no photo? Well, my camera ran out of battery!

Emily paints too and you can see some of her paintings hang up on the restaurant's wall. If something catches your eye, you can always buy it off. Besides paintings, you can also find traditional Russian embroidery there. Occasionally, you can find yourself dining with her cat and her 2 dogs. They are likely to be sitting around your table, making themselves at home too, just like in your very own dining room.

On the whole, it is a wonderful place to share some private, comforting times with these great pals whom we would not have met if we had not landed in Moscow. Cheers my friends!

原点

今天的心情很乱但不糟.
心的深处埋着一丝丝的依憾,
一丝丝的不舍,
一丝丝的伤感,
一丝丝的委屈.
心的一个角落却很感激他给我的终止,
让我回到原点, 让我轻松地放下这不必要的包袱.
对不起, 朋友, 只能陪你走到这里.
要健康, 要快乐喔 :)

Essentials for winter

The temperature has been hovering between -1 to 2 degrees and it is time to pack the bag with winter essentials.

a. Gloves - to keep upper extremities warm.

b. Book - to wild away time while waiting for friends as traffic is a killer during winter.

c. Music - to create your personal space while wilding away your time. Get lost in your own world.

d. Scarf & hat - besides your feet, the next 2 important areas to keep warm is the head and the neck.

My favorite coffee house...

It was a snowy afternoon, my friends and I decided to get out of the house for some fresh cold air. We headed for one of our favourite hunts in Moscow, the Coffee Bean. This is not the Coffee Bean chain that we are familiar with back home. It is rated one of the more desirable coffee place because it is a totally smoke-free coffee house, something very rare in Moscow. Sitting there, you really miss all the nice, cozy coffee places in Singapore. You imagine yourself sipping coffee, plugging into your IPOD and reading a book in a big cushy couch, occasionally looking out of the glass panels watching the world goes by. How peaceful. What a luxury....:)

Do people like your face?

I was playing around with Facebook recently and was pleasantly surprise to receive an invite from a friend who has not been in contact for many years. I was telling Ah Line that it was a very nice feeling to know that people still bother to look for you after so many years. On the other hand, I begin to wonder what if someone rejects your invite to be added in Facebook? That will be an awful feeling won't it, especially if that person also has a facebook account?

It's October..But snow has arrived..

It was only 3 days ago when I posted the photos of the fall. Today, heavy snow everywhere. Cars were begining to be covered with piles of snow. Here comes winter....

Fall In Moscow

I was out trying to capture some fall colours but was badly disappointed. It could also be that my mood was already lousy before this. I was down at the departmental store looking for a birthday present. The store was having huge sale and it was very crowded. I was queueing for about 45 minutes at the cashier before this shameless russian fat a_ _ cut into the queue. Everybody was totally pissed with her. When asked by another russian lady to move behind, she simply uttered some patronising words and continued to stand in the line, refusing to budge. How shameless can these people be! Anyhow, I managed to spot these shots at the embassy's garden....

Winter is just round the corner. Temperature has dropped tremendously throughout the week. It is now 2 degrees. I wonder if I will see snow tomorrow (I should if the weather report is accurate).

Gen Y Workers

I was reading a rather disturbing article in "The Edge". It is call "Meet The Gen Y Worker". Gen Y, as defined in the article, are chaps born between 1977 and early 1990s. They possess the following working attitude:
a) opinionated, self-assured
b) want early opportunities and expect immediate rewards
c) outspoken, trend-conscious and eager for new experiences
d) pertinent, arrogant and lacking in commitment
e) highly intelligent, confident, interactive and productive
f) "me" generation with parents who will most willingly provide for them at any time

While companies are scrambling to change their HR policies to meet the needs of this generation, I read the article with great concern and sympathy. While I think it is welcoming that GEN Y is opinionated, highly intelligent, confident, interactive, potentially productive and outspoken, I am disappointed that humility is not among the list of attributes. It seems to me that we are cultivating a generation that is full of themselves, over-the-head, "ruthless", totally unreliable and with "great" intellect. And if all else fails, they will have no qualms scrambling back to their parents for financial support. Where is the part on character? Where is the part on interpersonal skills? Where is the part on passion? And where is the part on being self-reliant?

Are we really so proud to have a generation that is of this manner? Do we really think that they can bring the country and the economy to the next level, given the fact that they can, at any time jump ship? I think the experiences that this generation have are fantastic but there are still a great chunk of work / life experiences these youngsters have yet to go through. And to write these off thinking that they already have what it needs to succeed is dangerous.

The Wait....

We are expecting our new house to be ready by the end of the year. It is a much smaller unit. Nonetheless, I reckon that cleaning will be much easier. The greatest challenge now is to ensure enough storage space for our things. Is back to looking for a reliable contractor with some sense of design again. Anybody with good recommendation? I am also cracking my brains for interesting design and I think the greatest problem will be the shoe cabinet. Not sure where will be a good place to put up one. I guess I cannot really tell until I see the actual unit. So exciting!

Testing 2

I could not resist the temptation of showing you the other label that I did. This is the transparent background version. The picture is taken in Vladimir, one of the towns outside of Moscow. I think this is by far, the most beautiful picture I have of Russia's landscape.

Effect Testing

Wanted to test out the effect of my first label. Did a series of it. This is the first. No time to test out the rest because it is about time to prepare dinner :)

My Label

I get a lot of inspirations from CanICan's blog. One of the things I thought was quite cool was CanICan's trademark / signature on all her photos. Maybe I can also create one of my very own? Here it is:

What do you think? The idea of putting in my blog address is not original. It is a copy from CanICan. I hope she doesn't mind. Look out for my very own identity in all future photos. Cheers! Oh ya, in case you are wondering where CanICan's blog is, here it is: http//canican.blogspot.com

The Heating Is On!

I just had a pleasant surprise. The heating is on! Finally! It was freezing in the apartment (good excuse not to get out of bed). But as usual, the one in the diner is not on yet. It is usually the slowest. However, the switching on of the heaters also means that it is time for moisturizer to be applied everyday. The heaters dry the air. Something I dread.

So Boring...............!

Weather is bad. It has been raining for the past 3 days. TV is not working. It can only be repaired on Wednesday (with some luck). No driver as he is on leave. No motivation to go out. No good book to read. No one really to talk to. No latest music. I'm glad I will be going home soon. It is just SOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOORRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGG here!

My Little Red Dot

Being given the opportunity to live overseas, I have learnt that I have always been a Singaporean and I will always be. Maybe the grass is always greener on the other side; many of us fantasize about migrating abroad, enjoying a slower pace of life, having bigger living space, dreaming of spending weekends at the countryside etc. Is it all such a bed of roses? All so simple?

I, for one, enjoy holding my little red passport. It symbolises my country, a place where I am its priority, where I know I will never be treated as second class, where I will never experience discrimination, where I am known as a citizen.

My experience in Moscow makes me cherish things we have back home more. In Moscow, going onto the streets is always a struggle and the inertia for doing so is great. It is not because the streets are unsafe but more because you are likely to encounter something unpleasant which will just ruin your day. Let me give you an example. I was walking home from the supermarket one day and a middle-age man was right in front of me. It was a busy street but he did not bother to ensure if there were people near him before he decided to clear whatever was stuck in his throat onto the floor. His dirty, disgusting load of spit nearly landed on my pants and my shopping bag. Totally disgusted, all I could gave out was a loud "SH_T!" and a hard stare. I couldn't express more of my disgust due to language barrier and the fact that spitting is a way of life here. He wouldn't be bothered to apologise so don't waste your time. How uncivilised he was but you just got to look out for "spitters" when walking on the roads.

Going to restaurants is another way to make your blood boil. Poor service (sometimes you don't know why you need to tip the waiters), loud, rude voice, waitresses who look everywhere except at the customers, smoking and non-smoking areas being only 1 foot away from each other etc. Who says service at Singapore restaurants are not good enough? Try here and you will appreciate what we have back home.

But, it is not all these bad experiences that make me feel proud to be a Singaporean. Rather, I don't think anyone can truly feel like they belong to a place that is not theirs. Just like one will feel most comfortable and at ease in their own house no matter how posh or dilapidated it is. We can adapt to living in another country, we can make our lives as enjoyable and comfortable as we want but we can never blend in as naturally as the natives. Just like we can never speak English like a British and they can never speak Singlish like a Singaporean. Something will always be amiss. And if we try too hard, we forget who we really are.

Little red dot to me symbolises home, natural fit, pride (small but tough country) and ownership.

Exhauserobics!

Two days ago, I finally decided to unwrap the aerobics DVD that I bought from London last Dec. Did a quick screening of the movements and thought to myself, " I think I can do it. I have done these movements before!" So I tried. After half an hour, I was exhausted, barely could lift up my legs and my arms. Then came resistence training with weights. Good thing was, weights were optional and you could do the same actions without them. Could not really complete the whole set and by now, I was just tapping my feet on the ground. Next was crunches. I thought I better worked on my abs if I ever want to wear bikinis (wildest dream). That workout was great, only to realise that the muscles were aching the very next day.

Today, I decided to put on the DVD once again and had another 1.5 hours of workout. It was great to be perspiring and feeling the muscle aches. But I just have to admit that I am not as fit as before. I used to be able to complete the full aerobics routine but not anymore. Sigh, hate to see lesser and lesser muscles and more and more flabs. Nightmare of a middle-age woman....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Handphone Bills :(

Sigh. Got my handphone bill last night. I had been spending too much on my Singapore mobile. For the last 2 months, the bills were at least S$160. Got to find a way to bring down the amount. Maybe because we had been corresponding with our lawyer for the sale of the house using this number. Maybe I should ask Adrian to pay half of it??? (Idea!)

Looking through the service plans of M1, nothing interesting that would allow me to lower my cost :(

You have a message!

Ever sent out an sms and received no reply? Ever sent out smses to a particular person and never get a single reply? Ever consider why such response or no response? I know of some friends who are very back dated with their sms replies. It's like they accumulate a week's supply before they reply. For friends like this, I know I will not be able to count on them in times of emergency. But late replies are better than no reply. No reply may just mean; no time, not important, no in existence anymore, don't care, not interested, cannot be bothered, what a pain.....the list goes on. Is such a person still worthwhile to consider him a friend? Still worthwhile to try and keep in contact (there's no contact to begin with)?